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Superharman

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Game of the Year 2016

I found 2016 to be a pretty damn solid year for gaming to the point that it got to the end of the year and my unplayed pile was getting way to heavy. There are three games which very well could make this list which I'll list below but I just ran out of time to play in the calendar year. If I feel very strongly about one of these games, I'll add it in (as I've done in the past), but with 3 days left in the year and the game I'm going to spend those three days playing being rather large, I don't know if any will make it.

But first, some games that I played that should get some mention

Honourable Mentions:

The Witness - Didn't do it for me as much as I would have liked, but still a stellar experience.

Headlander - Spent a solid weekend with it and pushed all the right buttons, but wasn't the best in the genre.

Pocket Card Jockey - Wacky fun that I dropped off on, but I just loved it while playing.

Civilization VI - Only had one campaign that ended up being a bit of a stand off, but it kept me up till 4am.

King's Quest - More fun was having my girlfriend really get into watching me play this, can't wait to finish the next couple of chapters.

Disappointments:

Uncharted 4 - I should have seen this coming really, I just really didn't like the way the Uncharted games played but genuinely liked 2. When I stand back and look at this, I just sort of shrug my shoulders, if this was a movie, it would be an average one and it isn't a very fun game either.

Quantum Break - Fucking Remedy man, I love Alan Wake but this? Like Uncharted above, nothing but a big shrug for me. The TV show thing just ended up being pretty lame and a real misunderstanding on Remedy's part of what we like about that stuff in their other games.

Recore - Every review has said it, loved this game until the end grind. It doesn't help that I was hit with a big patch and went off to play another game that I got addicted to only to come back and push through the end of this.

Non 2016 Release:

Demon's Souls - Finally got to this and was not disappointed. Actually brought into contrast that lackluster feeling I had post Dark Souls 3. Remains a great game.

Didn't get to them - Got all these games as gifts:

Final Fantasy XV - Not a fan of the series, but sign me up for this weird road trip.

Battlefield 1 - Historically speaking, I wan't to play this to see how they cover the material. I've been told it is quite well so I'll go for this one despite military shooters not being at all my thing.

Dishonoured 2 - Was ready to give this one a miss after only "enjoying" the first game but not feeling strongly about it. The reviews though have been enough to pique my interest.

List items

  • It's perfect.

    I'm a little bummed when I hear people talking about this game and they say that it's too ambiguous. That speaks to me of a culture of needing all questions answered. This game is an art game and so that ambiguity is all part of the process. The story plays out exactly the way it should, it varies the experience at exactly the right times and it culminates in a delightfully weird manner.

    Like I said, it's perfect, this extends to the gameplay, I just don't know how they managed to get that sense of fear every time you're being chased only to result in a near escape. This is a perfectly calculated experience and the culmination of what I see as a 7-8 year resurgence of the 2D platformer.

  • This was sitting at about 5 on my list about a couple of weeks ago. Then my Mum came to visit and story based games were out so I got back into this and man is it great. Despite some Halo sessions about 10 years ago, I've never been one for competitive shooters but this one just grabs me on every level. When I'm hooked in, I just can't stop playing this. My main is generally Zenyatta at this point but I like a good spread of characters and that's really important to varying the experience for me. You got me Blizzard and with this, you're probably going to keep me as long as I can still get a game.

  • As soon as I heard this getting good notices and talking it up in line with Wolfenstein The New Order, I signed up. That I would power through the game going through every nook and cranny of each level to get all the collectibles and even finishing all the challenges is an even bigger deal. FPS isn't really my "thing" but I like a good one and everything about this just felt right, from the combat system that relied on "never stop moving", to the over the top story. All the elements just came together in a perfect, gory marriage.

  • I'd play a From Software Soulsborne game a year and for the last three years, that has been standard practice for me. Dark Souls III is a very good one of these games and in some aspects, it is better than the games it follows. I should also note that without question, Dark Souls is my all time favourite game.

    With all that said, was I really after a direct sequel to Dark Souls? Honestly, this feels like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, they went left field a little with the first sequel and the reactions were mixed, so they went safe with the second sequel. It's pretty amazing to see Anor Londo again but as I got to the end, I sort of realised how few memorable areas there were with only The Cathedral of the Deep being my big stand out.

    Then there was the DLC which I just felt wasn't very fun and that's a big issue. While I come to the games for the challenge and excessive oppression, when it stops being fun (getting through an area by Luck or running), it just falls apart a little.

    Having said all that, this remains a very good one of these games and hell, we're talking Dark Souls here, a series that is among the gold standard in games. Make no mistake, this is a great game in the series and I'm on board for whatever From does next.

  • Thank you Recore update. I purchased and installed this game pretty soon after release but never actually started it. Then, as I sat down to push through the end of Recore, a large update came in and I turned on my PS4 for something to play. I went through the complete Souls experience all over again, is started with frustration (why aren't the controls 1:1?), but as I found my groove and playing style I worked my way through this great, varied game. Some might say it's just 2D Dark Souls, but it's more than that, there are some clever design choices here and stellar map design that make this one rise above being just what it appears to be.

  • If I hadn't sat in a cave for half an hour trying to get Trico to take me through a cave (being the only time I had to look up online to ensure I was doing the right thing, I was, he just wasn't doing what he was supposed to), this may have topped the list. As it is, it's a great, very affecting game that is hampered by some serious issues. How you get over those issues is how varied your mileage will be. That said, I pushed through this over a single weekend and often found myself marvelling at the beauty of it. Of course, 5 minutes after that marvelling, Trico would knock me off an edge.

  • I played this, The Witness and Firewatch all within a pretty short space and while this one was lowest on my list of these three, it ended up being the one that stuck with me most. Good presentation, character interactions and scenarios are where this game shines. I found myself really getting a feel for the characters based on dialogue and voice work inflections that both impacted the way I felt about them, but also changed how I played the game. That's why it tops what I'm seeing as my "interactive fiction" trio of games that dominate 7-9.

  • I've been listening to Idle Thumbs since pretty close to the beginning of the podcast so I was locked in for this one and what I got was, pretty much what I expected really. To me, this really took the format from Gone Home to another step up the literary chain. Where Gone Home felt more Teen Fiction (not meant as an insult), this one headed more towards adult literature with all the tropes there. If the "walking simulator" is going to establish itself as an interactive novel, I'm more than happy with that direction.

  • Virtue's Last Reward was my game of the year in 2012 but going into this 3 and a half years later, I was surprised how much that game didn't stick with me. I quickly fell off this when it came out as I needed a quick refresher of the prior games, but I also had Monster Hunter to play. On my Christmas 4 hour train ride to my brothers place, I decided to delete my save a start from scratch. After 3 and a half hours of play, I was solidly back in that world and spent the next five days working my way through it. I don't think it is near VLR or 999, but it is still a solid enough conclusion even if it goes to some pretty wild places.

  • I snuck MH4U onto my list last year as I played it pretty heavily in the final week of the year during some travelling (see also No. 9) so with this one coming out, I was pretty excited to come into one of these games with some fresh skill.

    It's certainly no MH4U being a much smaller, less focused game, but I still put 100 hours into this thing and it was a continual go to during the middle of the year as I pushed through every village quest. I'm just hoping next time we get something a little more fresh and...switchy.
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